I make no claims on any of these characters.

Cylon Model #1

She didn't know what drove her to continue. Maybe it was the fact that it was the only thing she knew how to do. Maybe it was the feeling of duty to see her father's and grandfather's life work not be in vain. Maybe, just maybe, she still had enough curiosity to want to know if it was even possible. Whatever the reason, she had reached the point once again when she would know shortly if success or failure would be the result of her latest efforts.

As she waited for the verdict on the outcome of her experiment, she reflected on how she had reached this point in her life. She had been born on this planet where her parents, grandfather, and eight of their co-workers had lived since five years before she was born. Her grandfather had been one of the original scientists responsible for the creation of the first cylon centurions. They had been hailed as heroes among the Twelve Colonies for their efforts. All menial labor, all dangerous jobs had been turned over to these cylon creations. For several years things had gone well, but over time the human population began to see cylons as creatures beneath them to despise, loathe, and mistreat. The government had recognized the seriousness of the situation and had decided to assemble a team under the direction of Michelle's grandfather to see if modifications could be made to the appearance of the cylons. It was hoped that if cylons could somehow be made to look less like imposing machines and more human-looking, that maybe the general population would be more likely to accept them. A team of top scientists had just been assembled to look into the matter when the cylons had rebelled. Fortunately for her family, the cylons had seen them as sympathetic to their cause and did not harm them. In fact, when all out war broke out between the two sides, the cylons had helped them and their co-workers to escape to this world. Her father and grandfather in particular had taken the conflict very hard; their sympathies were divided; they understood the cylons not wanting to be treated as they had been by humans, but it was equally as hard to watch their "creations" murder innocent people.

As one of the creators of the cylons her grandfather felt ultimately responsible for what had happened, and was determined to find a way to set things right between the two races. After much debate amongst themselves a plan of action, if it was even possible, was decided upon. That "solution" would ultimately consume them all for the rest of their lives. Every aspect of their existences became focused on attaining their goal. Yet, as the years went by, and they began to succumb to death, only she, Michelle, remained. Michelle thus became the only one left to carry on their work.

It must have been apparent to the grown-ups early on that they all might not live to see the attainment of their dream; hence Michelle's education had become their second most important project. It was crucial that if another generation's labor might be needed for the project, then her life would need to be centered on learning what she would need to know to complete their work. She had been a capable student and had learned quickly. She knew little of art, music, or beauty, however; those things had been considered superfluous by the grown-ups. She had learned chemistry, biology, mathematics, programming, nanotechnology, and biomechanical engineering instead.

Thirty-six years had passed since their arrival on this world. The cylons, who knew of the ultimate objective of the grown-ups and approved of it, had set them up with a lab and had seen to their basic needs. The planet that the cylons brought them to alternated between being pitch dark and well below freezing half the year and total sunshine and scorching hot the other half. (It was easy to understand how the nickname given to this new planet by the humans was Hades.) The environment in their quarters was regulated somewhat, (with layering still necessary during the "winter" and tank tops and shorts being the preferred choice of attire in the "summer" season) but venturing outside was out of the question. While the basic physical needs of the humans may have been taken care of, the cylons, being creatures that did not appreciate the need to rest or to rejuvenate, were not sympathetic to the psychological needs of their human creators. Stress and fatigue had ultimately been a factor in the premature deaths of many of the grown-ups. Michelle, however, having never known any other type of existence, thrived in the environment in which she grew up.

The grown-ups had initially divided themselves into smaller teams with each team working on a specific aspect of their intended creation. One team, consisting of Michelle's grandfather Cavil, her mother and father, and Sharon, an expert on biomechanical engineering, had been given the task of developing the body. Another team made up of Gina (a renown chemist), Aaron (a philosopher, a dreamer, a loner, and -considered by some- a nutcase), and Anna (a brilliant programmer and mathematician), focused on creating the "life essence" needed to breathe life into the body. The remaining team began with Mary (a brain surgeon), Simon (a doctor known for his exceptional research abilities), and the intern. They worked on brain development and sequencing the order of knowledge that each subject would need to be taught. Leo had been the project manager of the lab back on Caprica; he did not possess any scientific knowledge that would help their efforts, so he assumed the role of manager of the station, prepared the meals, and helped in the care of Michelle after her birth. He helped make life on Hades a little easier for everyone with his uncanny ability to anticipate the needs of others before they did, yet he preferred to spend most of his personal time alone in deep thought as if pondering the many questions of the universe.

Each of the eleven grown-ups had contributed their DNA at the commencement of the project, and the samples had been frozen. The theory that older DNA might not be as robust as younger DNA had led to this decision. Also, samples had to be taken from live subjects; with such a small number of subjects to begin with, it was prudent to get the samples before an unexpected death robbed them of a donor. They were not sure if a child-human would "grow up" to adulthood properly, so samples from Michelle had only begun at age eighteen and had been replaced each year with a fresh one.

Ironically, the initial assessment of the grown-ups had been that producing "human" bodies that were virtually indistinguishable from real humans would be the hardest part of their project. Yet the bodies had proven to take "only" ten years to create. Michelle's grandfather, the first to die, had taken his last breath just under a year before the first body was perfected. Nanotechnology had provided the breakthrough they required; with nanytes they were ultimately able to "grow" a human body in under two weeks. When it had reached the point of full growth the nanytes were simply turned off. The bodies did not decay and did not require any special preservation methods. They simply appeared to be sleeping humans. Several copies of each of the eleven models had been created only to languish for another fourteen years before the life essence had been developed enough for testing.

The life essence had proven to need slight, but significant, derivations for each of the models. When the life essence was finally developed, a mere drop of it was infused into a white, gelatinous, carbon-based substance in which a lifeless body had been immersed. This jellylike material was then exposed to extremely bright light resulting in the inert body "coming to life"; although, all that meant at first was the body had reached a stage comparable to a brain-dead human being kept alive by life-support.

The team charged with knowledge sequencing had, by necessity, been the last to make real progress. All their work had been theoretical before the creation of the life essence. Once the life essence had been developed, they had found out the hard way that neural pathways had to be treated very delicately. In their haste to reach their final goal, the first few subjects had had their brains "turned on" with all the circuitry supposedly in place. The bodies had begun to spasm uncontrollably with haunting sounds emanating from the vocal chords. The subjects had been terminated and studied to discover what the problem was. They found the synaptic connections in cylon brains were operating at speeds so incredible that they were overwhelming the neural networks. The grown-ups had had to totally rethink their assumptions. The temporal lobe, the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe, and the occipital lobe – each had to be modified to handle the higher and faster levels of neural traffic associated with a cylon brain.

This had proven to be a devastating blow to them all. They had created the bodies, and they had produced the life essence; those had seemed like the most daunting of the tasks in the beginning. To be so close, and yet have the whole project stall, had led some to give up hope. Mary and Aaron had both committed suicide. The others carried on, but progress was slow. They all seemed to realize at this point that they would not live to see the project completed, so they all began to shift their efforts into making sure that Michelle learned their areas of expertise.

Another demoralizing blow had been the fire. Gina and Aaron were in their lab where the life essence had been developed. No one ever discovered what had caused the explosion, but Anna had rushed in to try and save her colleagues and had herself been overcome by the smoke. Fortunately mixtures of the life essence had been stored in a different part of the complex, but the notes and log books detailing its creation were destroyed in the fire. The three people who had done all the work in this area died together that horrible day leaving the survivors no hope of being able to reproduce their results.

The latest tragedy that Michelle had had to face had occurred a year ago. She and her mother were finally ready to try again to bring one of their creations to life; they were faced with having to decide which "model" to try with first. Surprisingly, the decision turned out to be an easy one. They both agreed to start with the intern.

Michelle, of course, had no memories of him at all, and her mother had very few since he had died so soon after their arrival. They both felt that they could be more detached dealing with someone who did not look exactly like either a trusted colleague or a departed loved one.

The other grown-ups had collectively always felt guilty for the intern's suicide. If they had only reached out to him more and made him feel more like a valuable member of the team instead of being just "the intern" maybe they could have prevented his suicide. They hoped that by giving his DNA the chance to be the first human-cylon ever created they could, in some small way, honor his memory and his contributions to their efforts.

He had joined the team back on Caprica just a month before the cylon rebellion for what was supposed to be a six month internship. When the war with the cylons broke out, he along with the other members of the lab at work that day, were evacuated by the cylons.

Maybe because he never felt like he was a real member of the team, or maybe because of his reluctance to spend time with the other team members, he had had the hardest time adjusting to the relocation on Hades. On the rare occasions when he was referred to at all, he was always just known as "the intern". This continued as the years past until eventually no one could even remember his real name.

They had reached this point together almost six months ago, and it had been her mother wearing the thought device. Then, however, a live feed was pulsing through it. When the feed had gone crazy it had overloaded her mother's brain. Mercifully she had been dead before she hit the floor. Michelle had been overwhelmed by the loss of her last companion, her dear mother. She had almost shut down mentally herself. For awhile all she could do was take care of her most basic needs once she had taken care of the disposing of her mother's body. Becoming accustomed to being entirely alone was a struggle initially, as was keeping the research going by herself. Only knowing in her gut that she must be close to the breakthrough they had all desired kept her going. She built in a five second delay to the receiver part that would allow her to monitor any future crazy fluctuations like the one that had killed her mother. She was about to see, once again, if thirty-six years of work had accomplished their goal or whether failure would be the only result.

A copy of the intern's model lay on the table in the observation room. Michelle was observing him through the one way mirror in the control room. She had a transmitter/receiver device, which she called the thought device, attached to her temple just as the body she was watching did. She wished for the thousandth time that her mother was still here to share this moment.

Had the body on the table just moved?

Hello, she concentrated on saying in her head.

Hello. Who are you?

…..My name is Michelle.

Where are you?

…..You can't see me just yet.

Where am I?

…..I'll explain that eventually. How do you feel?

Like my head hurts.

…..Which part of your head hurts?

Right here, he said as he touched his fingers to his left temple.

…..Does it feel any better now?

Yes! It does. Thank you.

…..You're welcome, but how do you know I fixed it?

I just know somehow.

What else are you experiencing right now?

I feel disoriented, like I've been floating somewhere for a very long time.

…..That's understandable. I'll explain that later, too. For now, though, it's very important that you rest and sleep if possible.

He could feel her compassion for him along with a twinge of regret and wondered briefly about that, but he could feel himself tiring, and it was all he could do to answer her.

Okay; I'll try. And Michelle?

…..Yes?

I'm glad to be alive, too.

She disconnected herself quickly. She was stunned by his words: she had been fairly certain he would be able to understand the thoughts she was projecting towards him, but he had clearly been able to read her emotions as well which she found quite disconcerting. She also wanted to make sure that he did not know she was about to end his short life.

The last six months of living by herself had left her quite unaccustomed to not only speaking but especially to having to verbalize her emotions. She found having someone probing her mind quite disconcerting. Yet that's what I was doing to him, she thought ruefully. The sooner I can get him talking the sooner I can stop using the thought device.

She pressed the button that would asphyxiate him and cause his consciousness to download to what she called the resurrection machine. She would be able to monitor his consciousness in much the same manner she had while it was in his body only without the interactive component. She would also perform an autopsy on the body to check the neural pathways for sufficient 'bandwidth' for lack of a better term.

These steps were repeated over and over again as a precaution. Each time his life would last longer and longer. Michelle was very patient not to rush things. She performed a thorough examination each time she terminated his life in order to make sure his next body's brain would be prepared for the intellectual growth he had experienced. The patient, of course, had no way of knowing that he was being 'killed' each time he went to sleep and waking each time within a different, albeit identical body. She felt much like a proud parent as she watched 'her baby' take his first steps, 'see' for the first time, ponder a crude attempt at a painting she had created for him, observe himself in a mirror, and master typing on the keyboard she provided him. The latter was accompanied with great relief by Michelle because it meant the thought device would no longer be needed; she had never been comfortable with him having the potential to read her mind. He had never brought it up in a conversation, but she wondered if that was because he already knew about her feelings on the subject.

This pattern continued until one day Michelle felt assured that his mind would no longer be in danger of overloading. He had no way of knowing, of course, that she had been technically killing him repeatedly throughout this period. She prepared him ahead of time by telling him that the next time he woke up she would be in the room with him; she did not want him to be afraid of her.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He quickly sat up and looked around.

"Hello. It's so nice to finally meet you in person."

"Hello, Michelle. Yes, it is." He stood up and walked up to her until he was only inches from her face. He looked at her adoringly as he reached out to touch her blond hair, so different from his own.

"I need to teach you about personal space," she said with a nervous laugh, somewhat flustered at him invading hers so suddenly.

"What do you mean?" he asked, examining her face closely as he continued to stand inches from her.

She held her hands up in front of her, resting them ever so slightly on his chest as she took a step back. "It's not generally polite to stand any closer to someone than this when you first meet them."

"But I feel like we already know each other, don't you?"

"Let's just keep it like this for now, okay?"

"Okay, Michelle." He continued his close examination of her face and body, however, causing her to blush slightly.

After a long pause he asked, "How many of us are there?"

"What do you mean?" Michelle answered, feeling slightly uneasy.

"There's you and me." He stated as if he was speaking to a child. "Are there others?" he asked again.

She felt a wave of relief; she thought he was asking about cylons. She should have realized that to him he was no different from her.

"There used to be others here. Now it is just you and me, but there are others far, far away from here."

She had not expected him to pursue this line of questioning. She had thought that he would be curious, yes, but she had not prepared herself as to how much she should reveal immediately to him. How would he take the news of his creation? She looked into his eyes and saw complete trust reflected back at her. She had been monitoring his thoughts daily after removing his consciousness from his body - she didn't like to call the process killing - for weeks and had never observed anything that would lead her to think that being honest with him would be a mistake, however.

"Do I have a name?"

Michelle smiled. This was one question she had anticipated. "You definitely need one. I was thinking of the name Cory. What do you think?" She didn't tell him she had been drawn to the name when she learned it meant 'the chosen one'.

"It will suffice," he replied with a small smile.

She was somewhat disappointed with his answer although she didn't exactly know why.

Author's Note:

If you have read this far, I thank you! I realize it has been mostly exposition up to this point, and I appreciate you bearing with me this far. While it is a bit off the beaten path of what usually gets posted on this site, – (What! No Kara OR Lee???) –I myself wanted an explanation of how the cylons evolved and thought others might as well. So, if this story line is of interest, please let me know. Thanks!